Madrasas are the most productive institutions today when we consider the amount the community spends on them (compared to other institutions) and their crucial services to the community. Madrasas play multiple roles. Our investment on them is almost totally from zakat which any how we have to give as a fardh.
Apart from imparting free Islamic education to the poorest of the poor, the madrasas provide them free food and shelter for 8 to 10 years & with dignity. Many of these madrasas have orphans too making them the largest network of orphanages in the community. Madrasa system not only gives their students Taleem and academic certificates but also do their Deeni and akhlaqi tarbiyat & make them responsible & morally much better human beings. I don't know which modern schools do such fine deeni tarbiyat. All the Deeni services needed for the community are provided by the graduates of madaris whether it's the basic level like regular imamat of masajid, khateebs for Juma and Eid prayers, funeral services, teaching Quran to children, giving duroos in the masjids etc to the higher level roles like managing various community organisations, providing milli leadership and guiding the ummah in Deeni matters and the highest and most important role of preserving the knowledge of the Deen and passing it on to the future generations to safeguard the Deen till qiyamat and protecting the Deen from Tahreefaat and distortion. Basically it's the madaris and their graduates which keep the Deen alive in the community by acting as a link between the Deen and the masses.
There are different categories and levels of madaris just like in modern schools and colleges there are different levels. So definitely all madrasa graduates are not at the same level. The top madaris have produced and continue to produce some of the best Ulama whose erudition and authority is widely acclaimed in the Islamic world. Most of the milli leadership is comprised of Ulama from these madaris even today. In the matters of Deen, the modern educated people generally cannot compare with them in both ilm and taqwa. It's almost impossible for those like us who have studied under a secular educational system since childhood to be totally free from it's ill effects which have seeped in to our way of thinking, our priorities, our way of looking at the dunya, our weltanschauung & our response to various challenges of life. Those who studied the Deen in madrasa system don't have that spiritual and ideological disadvantage. Their minds and hearts are purer, more natural & aligned with Islam.
It's not an exaggeration, this is what one feels again and again when one sits with them.
Even knowledge wise, the ilmi depth of the curriculum they teach in madrasas is way beyond what most of the modern Islamic schools teach. There is no comparison. One just needs to go through the books they teach to realise this.
Some exceptions are there everywhere. But we have to see the general picture.
Many people mock the madaris that they teach only by rote learning and that their syllabus is outdated.
We should know that the Memorisation based learning is done only at the level of Hifz of Quran and few initial Alim course subjects where one has to memorise Arabic grammar rules, Sarf and vocabulary. After that it's mostly an understanding based learning with some amount of necessary memorisation. Most of the Darse Nizami books are so voluminous that its impossible to do rote learning!
Infact the darse nizami syllabus teaches Logic and philosophy too which teach critical, coherent and systematic thinking from a young age. Fiqh and Usool al fiqh are the pinnacle of rationality applied to Quran and Hadith for practical scenario application and problem solving. These skills are perfected at Ifta level to the maximum.
We have a lot of misunderstandings about the madaris and their syllabi because we dont know much about it. I realised it all after studying these books with the ulama alhamdulillah. Many books I could simply not understand unless the teacher explained it repeatedly in class. All my previous extensive reading of general Islamic literature and listening to general bayans and lectures couldnt help me there. It's a totally different level. The Islamic intellectual tradition is quite strong and unique and no way less in-depth compared to modern subjects.
There is a wide gulf between the modern educated and madaris graduates. Misunderstandings are there on both sides and common Muslims tend to get biased also because of the image that western and Indian media have willfully created of the madaris and their education being outdated and useless and extremist, narrow minded etc, all Islamophobic tropes. We need to be careful in this.
Ofcourse there is a room for improvement in the system of madaris we have today. And the Madrasa managements are very much aware of this. Many big madaris are infact teaching English, maths and computers to their students. But their major problem is they are not able to find proper teachers to teach these subjects due to low salaries the madaris can offer, apart from other difficulties. But slowly things are changing. The more we get involved with madaris and offer our help, the more they will improve and serve the community better. The increasingly complex challenges the community is facing from different directions makes it incumbent upon us to strengthen the madaris more so that they can prepare to meet the challenges better. InshaAllah.
(The author is a Medical Doctor who has completed traditional Alim course too)
(The author is a Medical Doctor who has completed traditional Alim course too)
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